Iga Swiatek, who won her eighth WTA title of the year in San Diego a week ago, kicks off her 30th consecutive week at No. 1 on the WTA rankings today, having first risen to the top spot on April 4th earlier this year, right after winning Miami.
Since WTA rankings began in 1975, Swiatek is just the fourth woman to spend 30 or more consecutive weeks at No. 1 in their very first stint at the top spot.
WOMEN TO SPEND 30+ WEEKS AT NO. 1 IN FIRST STINT AT NO. 1 ON WTA RANKINGS:
~ Steffi Graf: 186 weeks in first stint [August 17, 1987 to March 10, 1991]
~ Martina Hingis: 80 weeks in first stint [March 31, 1997 to October 11, 1998]
~ Serena Williams: 57 weeks in first stint [July 8, 2002 to August 10, 2003]
~ Iga Swiatek: 30 weeks so far in first stint [April 4, 2022 to present]
Swiatek is one of only 15 women who’ve accumulated 30 or more career weeks at No. 1 on the WTA rankings in total, alongside Graf (377), Martina Navratilova (332), Serena (319), Chris Evert (260), Hingis (209), Monica Seles (178), Ashleigh Barty (121), Justine Henin (117), Lindsay Davenport (98), Caroline Wozniacki (71), Simona Halep (64), Victoria Azarenka (51), Amelie Mauresmo (39) and Angelique Kerber (34).
Meanwhile, Jessica Pegula rises from No. 5 to a new career-high ranking of No. 3 after winning the biggest title of her career at the WTA 1000 event in Guadalajara.
Pegula is the 13th American woman ever to reach the Top 3 on the WTA rankings, joining eight former No. 1s (Evert, Navratilova, Tracy Austin, Seles, Davenport, Jennifer Capriati, Venus Williams and Serena), two former No. 2s (Billie Jean King and Andrea Jaeger) and two former No. 3s (Pam Shriver and Sloane Stephens).
And right behind Pegula is another new American career-high, as Coco Gauff rises from No. 7 to No. 4—her Top 5 debut—after reaching the quarterfinals in Guadalajara.
Gauff is one of only 17 American women to reach the Top 4 in WTA rankings history—the 13 mentioned above who’ve reached the Top 3 (including Pegula) as well as Zina Garrison, Mary Joe Fernandez, Sofia Kenin and herself.
She’s the first American teenager to make her Top 5 debut on the WTA rankings since Serena in 1999.
There’s also a Top 10 debut on the WTA rankings this week, with Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova rising from No. 12 to No. 9 after reaching the quarterfinals in Guadalajara.